The Slytherin Princess | Draco Malfoy x Reader

Chapter 45: Back to school

You arrive back at Hogwarts to begin your sixth year. However, things felt different... for good a reason.

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The ride on the Hogwarts Express somehow felt much darker than it had any of the years prior. The sun was shining brightly outside, yet you couldn't help but feel like something was lurking around the corner, just waiting for the perfect moment to pounce and confirm your suspicions.

You heard whispers throughout the train, not really understanding any of them. They were far too quiet, and you hadn't quite mastered the nonverbal version of the Amplifying Charm.

Draco had to stay away from you, a fact that only served to make you feel lonelier as you sat in a compartment entirely by yourself. You were supposed to be dead. Nobody knew you were sitting in the Hogwarts Express, just magically disguised as someone else.

You had taken to staring out the window when you heard the door to your compartment slide open. You turned around, and your heart leapt at the sight of Juniper entering the train car.

"Need some company?" she asked gently, and you nodded excitedly, trying not to come across like you'd recognized her.

"I'm your new roommate," she confessed then. "I'm sure you got the owl about it. You were in the Sáirsint house at Erehnoll, right?"

You nodded again. "I was sent an owl by...Severus Snape?" you said then, trying to make it sound like you weren't sure of his name. "He said that means I'll transfer right into Slytherin at Hogwarts."

Juniper nodded. "So you're Ravena, then?"

You nodded, forcing a smile. "I'm sure you and I will get along just fine."

Juniper sighed, kicking her feet up on the seat across from her, on the one you were sitting on. "It's not getting along I'm worried about," she admitted, and you assumed she could tell you were confused by the look on your face, so she shrugged. "It's just going to be rough for me, that's all. You're replacing the roommate I've had for the last five years here at Hogwarts. She was killed by the Dark Lord over the summer."

You faked a gasp. "So he's real?"

Juniper looked at you like you'd grown a third eye. "Of course he's real. Have you Erehnoll-ians been living under a rock?"

You cleared your throat. "No. We were just visited by a lot of people from the Ministry, and they had everyone—even our Headmistress—convinced it was all just rumors, that the Dementors had been released from Azkaban or some such thing."

Juniper sighed, putting her feet back on the ground and leaning forward. "I mean, the Dementor part isn't exactly false—those guys have been going after Harry Potter since like, our second year. I'm not sure why they left Azkaban, but that basically helped the huge Azkaban breakout. The Carrows, Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy—basically everyone who was associated with Voldemort before his fall that was placed in Azkaban is back out on the streets. Rumor has it some of them are at Hogwarts."

You felt your blood run cold. If any of the Death Eaters were at Hogwarts, you were already unsafe. If any of them found out who you really were, you knew none of them were anything close to Draco. They'd turn you in a heartbeat. And if they took you before you could get to Draco, you would die, because you wouldn't be able to Obliviate him before being placed before the Dark Lord.

"You alright?" Juniper asked, her expression concerning. "You look like you just saw a Dementor."

You shook your head roughly, trying to get your terrifying thoughts out of your head. "I'm fine," you insisted. "It's just a tad overwhelming, finding all of this stuff is real after I spent months thinking it was all rumors."